Product Details

For any home business, claiming all the tax deductions you are entitled to is essential to your business’s financial success. Don’t miss out on the many valuable deductions you can claim.

Here, you’ll find out how to deduct:

start-up costs

home office expenses

vehicles, meals, and travel expenses

medical expenses under Obamacare, and

retirement expenses.

You’ll also learn how to keep accurate, thorough records in case the IRS ever comes calling. Easy to read and full of real-life examples, this book can help you take advantage of all the valuable deductions you are entitled to.

The 15th edition is copletely updated to cover the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

“Whether you’re going to start or have already started your business, you need this book.” -Paul Tulenko, syndicated business columnist

Index

Sample Chapter

Introduction

This book is for you if you’re one of the millions of Americans who run a business from home. It shows how home business owners can reduce their taxes by taking advantage of the huge array of tax deductions available to them.

Did you know that, if you have a legitimate home business, you may be able to deduct:

a portion of your rent or mortgage

expenses for local and business trips, and

medical expenses for yourself and your family?

All of these deductions—and many others—can add up to substantial tax savings. The IRS will never complain if you don’t take all the deductions available to you. In fact, the majority of home business owners miss out on many deductions every year simply because they aren’t aware of them—or because they neglect to keep the records necessary to back them up.

That’s where this book comes in. It shows you how you can deduct all or most of your business expenses from your federal taxes. This book is not a tax preparation guide—it does not show you how to fill out your tax forms. (By the time you do your taxes, it may be too late to take deductions you could have taken if you had planned the prior year’s business spending wisely and kept proper records.) Instead, this book gives you all the information you need to maximize your deductible expenses—and avoid common deduction mistakes. You can (and should) use this book all year long, so that you’re ready to take advantage of every available deduction opportunity come April 15.

This year more than ever you’ll need guidance when it comes to understanding your taxes. Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act at the end of 2017, the most sweeping change to the tax code in over 30 years. Most of those changes go into effect starting in 2018. We explain the new tax law and how it affects small business deductions including:

new individual and corporate tax rates (see Chapter 1)

a new 20% tax deduction for pass-through business owners, which includes most home-based businesses (see Chapter 7)

the elimination of deductions for business-related entertainment and certain meals (see Chapter 14)

new limits on deducting business losses (see Chapter 1), and changes affecting the cash method of accounting and deducting inventories (see Chapters 10 and 14).

Even if you work with an accountant or another tax professional, you need to learn about home business tax deductions. No tax professional will ever know as much about your business as you do, and you can’t expect a hired professional to search high and low for every deduction you might be able to take, especially during the busy tax preparation season. The information in this book will help you provide your tax professional with better records, ask better questions, and obtain better advice. It will also help you evaluate the advice you get from tax professionals, websites, and other sources, so you can make smart decisions about your taxes.

If you do your taxes yourself (as more and more home businesspeople are doing, especially with the help of tax preparation software), your need for knowledge is even greater. Not even the most sophisticated tax preparation program can decide which tax deductions you should take or tell you whether you’ve overlooked a valuable deduction. This book can be your guide—providing you with practical advice and information so you can rest assured you are taking full advantage of the many deductions available to home business owners.

Get Updates to This Book on Nolo.com

When there are important changes to the information in this book, we’ll post updates online, on a page dedicated to this book.